Reduction of pain in childbirth by the alleviation of anxiety during pregnancy.

Used the Institute for Personality and Ability Testing (IPAT) Anxiety Scale and 3 anxiety-related scales from Schaefer and Manheimer's Pregnancy Research Questionnaire (PRQ) to measure fear and anxiety before and after courses in childbirth education and childcare for 42 primiparas (mean age = 26 yrs) in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. A groups * trial analysis of variance indicated that both kinds of instruction significantly reduced 2 of 3 pregnancy-related anxieties, as determined by PRQ Fears for Baby and Irritability and Tension scores. Only the childbirth education course (Lamaze method) succeeded in reducing general anxiety level, as measured by the IPAT Anxiety Scale. Anxiety level was found to exert a significant effect on self-ratings of pain during the transition stage of labor. It is concluded that childbirth education can reduce fear and anxiety and that pain perception is enhanced by high anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Military health care providers' views on prescribing privileges for psychologists.

Selected military psychologists have been trained and privileged to independently prescribe psychotropic medications. To explore the attitudes of health care professionals toward prescribing authority, a survey of 395 military psychiatrists, psychologists, primary care physicians, and social workers was conducted. Psychologists, physicians, and social workers supported prescribing privileges and continuation of the training programs. Results suggested that support by physicians and social workers is based on improving access to comprehensive mental health care for their patients. Psychologists advocating prescribing privileges at the state level need to pursue the training and licensing authority to prescribe independently. The opposition of organized psychiatry seems assured. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two-dimensional analysis of stacked geosynthetic tubes on deformable foundations

Stacked geosynthetic tubes resting on a deformable foundation such as soil are analyzed. The tubes contain a slurry which applies hydrostatic pressure. The material of the tubes is assumed to act like an inextensible membrane and to have negligible weight, and the foundation is assumed to exert a normal upward pressure which is proportional to the downward deflection. Friction is neglected between tubes and at the foundation interface. Two configurations are considered: (a) one tube on top of another and (b) one tube straddling two tubes underneath it. For the latter formation, the case of external fluid acting on one side is analyzed, to simulate an application as a dike, and rigid blocks are utilized to prevent sliding of the tubes. Equilibrium shapes of the tubes are obtained numerically from a closed-form integral formulation, and the tension in each tube is computed.     

Potential for surface gas flux measurements in exploration and surface evaluation of geothermal resources

Anomalous concentrations of CO₂ and, to a lesser extent, CH₄ have been detected over many active geothermal systems. The production of these gases, and of N₂O, can be affected by both geothermal and biological processes. In this investigation, soil gas and soil-gas fluxes were measured at the Cove Fort-Sulphurdale geothermal field in Utah, which produces steam from both liquid- and vapor-dominated portions of the resource. The objectives were to determine the sources of these gases, the factors controlling their production, and the potential application to surface exploration and reservoir evaluation. Flux measurements were made in both summer and winter to evaluate and to quantify variations in seasonal noise.Carbon dioxide in soil gas, and in fluxes from the soil to the atmosphere during the summer sampling were dominated by soil respiration processes. During the winter, a geothermal component was visible. Methane fluxes were small negative values during the summer months, reflecting methanotrophic oxidation of atmospheric CH₄ and, possibly, geothermal CH₄ in the soils. Nitrous oxide in soil gas and in soil-gas fluxes to the atmosphere also varied seasonally. Surprisingly high concentrations were observed at locations directly above the steam cap. We suggest that NH₃ produced in the geothermal reservoir by the Haber reaction was seeping upward where it was biologically oxidized to NO₃⁻. This oxidation, and possible localized biological reduction of NO₃⁻ to N₂, produced moderate amounts of N₂O, averaging three times typical background flux rates and ten times background over the central portion of the geothermal area.There were higher fluxes of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O over the steam cap and the surrounding area, relative to background values. The high flux may reflect seepage of gas along faults that intersect the more extensive liquid-dominated portion of the reservoir. Nitrous oxide measurements in soil gas and soil-gas fluxes to the atmosphere offer promise as an exploration and reservoir characterization tool.     

Prescribing psychologists and patients' medical needs: Lessons from clinical psychiatry.

Psychologists who acquire prescribing privileges will assume an expanded obligation to address patients' medical (physical) conditions. Development of a training and practice model for prescribing psychologists may be informed by an awareness of how psychiatrists fulfill this obligation. Surveys of psychiatrists indicate that they rarely perform physical or neurological examinations. They typically participate only obliquely in the evaluation of patients presenting with acute behavioral or emotional symptoms suggesting organic illness, and they virtually never treat concomitant medical conditions of their patients. Other than in psychopharmacology, psychiatrists use their residual medical knowledge only indirectly. Findings imply that training for prescribing psychologists can be focused according to their expected clinical activities and that a model of practice emphasizing collaboration with nonpsychiatric physicians is feasible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)